Peter Childs

Prof. Peter Childs is the Professorial Lead in Design Engineering and Founding Head of the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London. He holds affiliations with the Energy Futures Lab, Grantham Institute, and multiple research networks. His expertise spans creativity tools, sustainable energy, robotics, and interdisciplinary engineering. He contributed to over 200 journal/conference papers and co-authored books on mechanical design engineering and related fields. Awards include the ICoD Lifetime Achievement Award (2024) and ICONNN’s Design Science Award (2025).

Education: DPhil and BSc from the University of Sussex. Research focuses on design innovation, fluid dynamics, and urban design models. He led £80M+ research contracts and founded Q-Bot Ltd and BladeBUG Ltd. Teaches Innovation Design Engineering across Imperial College and the Royal College of Art.

Grants and advising: Over £80 million in principal/co-investigator funding. Editorial roles include Chief Editor of the Journal of Design for Augmented Humanity. Honorary Professorships at Guangdong University of Technology and Professor of Excellence at MDH, Germany.